Cursive Cut-outs

I posted this les­son awhile back as “Name Aliens”, but I’ve since fig­ured out a bet­ter way to teach this, so I improved the direc­tions. As soon as kids can write their names in cur­sive, they’re ready to cre­ate these whim­si­cal crea­tures! To make “bugs”, just add six legs instead of two!(Adapted from the book,“Paper Designs” by Jerome C. Brown)Can you guess what name this is?? See answer below!

Mate­ri­als:

2 — 9x12 pieces of con­struc­tion paper in con­trast­ing colors

pen­cil and eraser

col­ored pen­cil or crayon

scis­sors

glue stick

black con­struc­tion paper scraps

“Jig­gle” eyes

Direc­tions:1. First, choose which color you want for your back­ground and set it aside.2. Fold the other paper in half length­wise (the “hot dog way”), then open it up and lay it flat.3. Using a pen­cil, write your name on the fold in cur­sive.(You will want to check stu­dents’ work to con­firm that they wrote their names on the fold!)4. Next, use a crayon or col­ored pen­cil to out­line all of your let­ters, includ­ing inside the loops of let­ters, such as the cur­sive “e”, “l”, “s”, etc.5. Now, re-fold your paper, and with the upper half of your name on top, cut out your name on the fold along the out­line you just drew with crayon. (You will be cut­ting right over any descen­ders that fall below the base­line of your name.)Be sure to cut out any inside shapes, too.6. Then, open up your paper and glue it onto your back­ground, with the crayon side down.7. Finally, add arms, legs/feet, and anten­nae by cut­ting two pieces of black paper at the same time (not on the fold this time!) to get a match­ing set. Add “jig­gle eyes” to com­plete the effect!

3 Responses to Cursive Cut-outs

Thank you so much for this post! I’ve been look­ing for some more “Name” projects for the first weeks of school! I have done the “Name Aliens” many times and love them, but I really like this new twist!